A new hobby I picked up recently ... Henna painting. It's a natural plant that is made into a paste (which smells VERY good, as it's main ingredients besides henna are tea, cloves & eucalyptus oil) and then painted onto the skin very very carefully. When the henna is mostly dry, it is gently cotton-balled with a lemon-sugar liquid. Then the henna must be heated (I put my hands over a candle) & then wrapped in cotton & then I cover the cotton with an ace bandage, so the cotton doesn't come off. You let it stay like that overnight & in the morning the bandage & cotton are removed. The henna is then "scraped" (but that hurts too much so I gently rub it off ... the other way feels like pulling a stubborn band-aid off!) Henna leaves a natural color on the skin, so after the paste is removed a beautiful design is left. The design lasts a few weeks. This picture is of slightly wet henna paste. When the paste was removed from my hand, the color was almost a dark burgandy color, which as the weeks go by, gets lighter and lighter until it finally disappears completely. Yes, it is my hand, I did it on myself! I did both of my hands, but never got a picture of the other hand. It wasn't as much as this one ... it was a simple design in my palm. In case you are wondering, no, henna painting is not a religion. It is used traditionally in places like Morocco and India. They do it mostly for weddings.
Recently I went to a concert where a group called "Youngstown" was playing. This is the band's lead singer, "DC"
Another band member, "Dallas"
I'm sorry this picture is so dark!! From left to right: Dallas, DC, Sammy.
After the concert we got to meet the guys and get their autographs! Here you can see Dallas hugging a fan and DC (hiding behind another fan) signing an autograph.
Dallas waiting for the next poster to sign.
All the guys. From left to right (back to front): Sammy (talking to DC), DC (signing an autograph) and Dallas. The girl to the left is me.
Sammy, one of the three band members.
My sister (right) & I just after the concert.
